1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet conveying device for sucking and successively conveying the lowermost sheet out of a plurality of sheets put on a sheet table while blowing air on the leading end of the lowermost sheet to separate the lowermost sheet from the other sheets from the downstream side in the direction of conveyance.
2. Disclosure Information
A sheet conveying device for blowing air on sheets such as originals put on a sheet table by an air nozzle and sucking the lowermost sheet by a conveyer belt with small holes to raise the sheets other than the lowermost sheet and separate only the lowermost sheet so that only the lowermost sheet is conveyed by the conveyer belt, thereby to prevent the sheets from being fed while being overlapped with each other has been conventionally known, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 291339/1986.
It seems desirable that air sucked by a suction fan is introduced into the air nozzle and is blown off in the above described sheet conveying device. The reason for this is that an independent fan need not be provided so as to blow air off, and the suction fan can be also used for blowing air off, thereby to make it possible to simplify the construction of the sheet conveying device.
If the suction fan is also used for blowing air off as described above, however, the amount of air blown from the air nozzle is defined as the amount of air sucked through the small holes of the conveyer belt. On the other hand, the small holes of the conveyer belt are covered with the sheet, whereby the amount of air sucked through the small holes is significantly reduced. Therefore, it is expected that the amount of air blown off from the air nozzle is reduced, thereby to make it impossible to prevent the sheets from being fed without overlapping each other.